Social media has been flooded with heartfelt tributes to Hawaiian surfer Montgomery “Buttons” Kaluhiokalani in recent days. The 55-year-old from Waikiki passed away on Saturday after a painful bout with lung cancer. To tens of thousands of surfers he influenced during his mid-70s heyday, including most who never met him, his passing still feels like losing a childhood friend.
To understand Buttons’ significance on surfing, it’s important to grasp where surfing was when he came of age … More
Surf Alaska, the video series, tells the tale of a few hardy souls in the far north exploring their endless back yard in search of surf.
Playing chess with mother nature, we use all available resources from boats to helicopters in our search for a few fleeting moments of euphoria.
A land of extremes – Alaska is the home of the midnight sun and the midday darkness. With over 34,000 miles of rugged, wilderness coastline, snow covered mountains and glacier carved fiords, violent weather patterns and 30ft tidal changes – This is not an easy place to go prospecting for surf.
Easy isn’t something we are in search of. It’s the difficulty of accessing the coastline, enduring the storms and surviving the cold that make surfing in Alaska so rewarding.
We always venture out in search of waves to surf, but whether we score or not there is always a story of adventure to tell.
This year’s 5-part series will feature new content of Mick Fanning, Gabriel Medina, Dillon Perillo, Taylor Knox, Matt Wilkinson and more from New Zealand, Mexico, California, and all over Europe. New chapters will be released every other week on ripcurl.com.